Fortnightly - deliveryhttp://www.fortnightly.com/tags/delivery
enFERC Approves Projects to Increase Natural Gas Supply to New York City by Next Heating Seasonhttp://www.fortnightly.com/ferc-approves-projects-increase-natural-gas-supply-new-york-city-next-heating-season
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>The <strong>Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</strong> (FERC) has approved <strong>Williams Partners</strong> and its wholly-owned subsidiary <strong>Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company’s</strong> (Transco) application to construct and operate two related projects designed to increase natural gas delivery capacity to Brooklyn and Queens in time for next winter's heating season. Transco will begin construction in June and plans to bring the projects into service in the fourth quarter of 2014. On Transco's Rockaway Lateral and Northeast Connector projects, Williams Partners plans to add 3.2 miles of new Transco pipeline and related facilities in New York, as well as equipment to increase compression at three existing Transco facilities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.</p>
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<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
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<a href="/tags/federal-energy-regulatory-commission">Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/ferc">FERC</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/williams-partners">Williams Partners</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/transcontinental-gas-pipe-line-company">Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/transco">Transco</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/natural-gas">Natural gas</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/delivery">delivery</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/brooklyn">Brooklyn</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/queens">Queens</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/new-york-city">New York City</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/pipeline">pipeline</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/rockaway-lateral">Rockaway Lateral</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/northeast-connector">Northeast Connector</a> </div>
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<div class="field field-name-field-news-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Category: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/news-categories/gas-pipelines-storage-news">Gas Pipelines &amp; Storage News</a></li></ul></div>Tue, 13 May 2014 17:23:52 +0000aburr17200 at http://www.fortnightly.comInnovation Mandatehttp://www.fortnightly.com/fortnightly/2013/12/innovation-mandate
<div class="field field-name-field-import-deck field-type-text-long field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Deck:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Meeting the just-and-reasonable standard in a time of change.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-import-byline field-type-text-long field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Byline:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-import-bio field-type-text-long field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Author Bio:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><strong>Michael T. Burr</strong> is <em>Fortnightly’s</em> editor-in-chief. Email him at <span class="s1"><a href="mailto:burr@pur.com">burr@pur.com</a></span></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-import-volume field-type-node-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Magazine Volume:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Fortnightly Magazine - December 2013</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Recently I shared a conversation with a senior utility executive at an industry conference. We talked about major forces driving changes in the utility industry – <i>i.e.,</i> cheap gas, EPA regulations, cybersecurity imperatives, renewables and distributed energy resources, etc. – and he offered up the following comment:</p>
<p>“It’s a great time to get into the utility industry, and a great time to get out of it.”</p>
<p>By “get out of it,” he was referring to the fact that he’s nearing retirement, and doesn’t envy the ranks of industry executives who will be moving into leadership positions over the next few years. He observed that utility industry leaders – and policymakers – are entering unfamiliar territory, on everything from resource planning to alternative ratemaking. Often that leads to conflict with customers and other stakeholders, as the industry attempts to transition from yesterday’s status quo to tomorrow’s new reality. </p>
<p>None of these challenges will be easy to resolve, and they’re coming just as Baby Boomers are retiring and taking their wisdom and experience out of the board room and onto the golf course. The next crop of leaders will be tasked to resolve a complex array of interdependent problems – and to do so without unfairly burdening or rewarding anybody. </p>
<p>A tall order, to be sure.</p>
<p>At the same time, the executive observed that the industry’s new leaders might find today’s challenges somewhat less discomfiting. Viewed from the perspective of someone now entering the executive suite, the current landscape offers unprecedented opportunities for influencing fundamental change in the industry. For new leaders who are eager to make a difference in the world, he said, we are now entering the best of times. </p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean the times will be easy.</p>
<h4>Just Reasonable</h4>
<p>In the federal policy realm, the Federal Power Act established the primary mandates that are supposed to guide the actions of America’s utility regulators – <i>e.g.,</i> the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Among the marching orders that Congress provided in the FPA, the most fundamental is the requirement for regulatory mechanisms to produce rates that are “just and reasonable.” </p>
<p>To an untutored eye, such a mandate might seem straightforward. In reality, however, those words – “just and reasonable” – represent the fundamental subject of ongoing, rancorous conflict among a wide range of stakeholders. </p>
<p>For example, this issue of <i>Fortnightly</i> includes a range of perspectives on one major battleground in that debate – namely, how effectively are the organized capacity markets (namely those in PJM, ISO New England, and the New York ISO) producing just and reasonable rates in the generation and transmission parts of the business? And what structural changes will be most likely to produce them in the future?</p>
<p>Depending on whom you ask, competition in organized markets for energy, capacity, and demand-side resources has served to push wholesale prices down lower than they would be otherwise – and lower than they are in comparable locations that lack organized markets; or, alternatively, the markets have created perverse incentives that deter new plant construction, and set the stage for a mortal disaster with supply shortages and price spikes. </p>
<p>Still others contend that instead of creating a level playing field for healthy competition, the organized markets have simply institutionalized an even bigger monopoly system than that of the vertically integrated utility, marginalizing options that don’t serve the interests of transmission-owning ISO members across entire regions.</p>
<p>The fact is, we can’t know for certain whether ISO-RTOs are actually producing just and reasonable rates or attracting investments sufficient to keep them that way in the future. That’s partly because it’s so difficult to test anything concrete about the effects of dynamic market forces; the landscape keeps shifting around, making assumptions obsolete. In part it’s also because we have no valid basis for comparison; we’ll never know what rates and resource additions would be like in the Northeastern states if the ISOs didn’t exist. We can compare and contrast ISO states and non-ISO states, but that won’t prove anything; the factors are too complex, and the outcomes are open to interpretation. </p>
<p>Mostly, however, the uncertainty arises from the simple fact that not everyone agrees on what “just and reasonable” rates actually look like. Whether that’s a problem or an opportunity depends on one’s perspective.</p>
<h4>Reasonably Just</h4>
<p>In the good-old days – before deregulation and renewable portfolio standards, before shale gas and solar rooftops – the process of setting “just and reasonable” rates was relatively straightforward. Vertically integrated utilities invested in the assets necessary to provide safe, reliable, affordable service, and regulators granted cost recovery – to the degree they agreed such investments were necessary. </p>
<p>That was then; this is now. For better or worse, during the past 40 years policymakers have been tinkering with the parameters for providing utility service, toward a variety of goals – from supporting coal-mining jobs to improving energy efficiency. Some of these adjustments are reflected in wholesale power prices, but many of them aren’t. In fact, in some parts of the country, wholesale power charges account for less than half of customers’ monthly bills; wires costs and various surcharges have tipped the balance away from generation and toward delivery and service. And if current trends continue, that balance will tip further as utilities pass along the costs of investments in new T&amp;D infrastructure – and as utilities seek to ensure all customers bear their share of utilities’ fixed costs, even as their kilowatt-hour purchases decline with growing conservation and distributed generation. </p>
<p>In this context, who can say for sure whether markets are producing just and reasonable rates? If the organized markets produce reasonable wholesale rates, but wires costs and various surcharges spiral out of control, then the industry will have failed to meet the just-and-reasonable standard. By the same token, if organized markets stumble and customers suffer prolonged shortages and price spikes – as some doomsayers predict they will – then the industry’s leaders will have no choice but to reconsider their entire strategy for meeting the FPA mandate. </p>
<p>It’s tempting to imagine that such failures would force the industry to abandon organized markets and complex incentive ratemaking, and return to a simpler time of vertical integration and <i>quid-pro-quo</i> regulation. What’s far more likely, however, is that incoming leaders will do their level best to address the new realities of policy goals and technology options, and they’ll find new ways of meeting the just-and-reasonable mandate – while pursuing the opportunities that emerge during a time of dramatic change.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-article-category field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Category (Actual): </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/article-categories/etrm-markets">ETRM &amp; Markets</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-1"><a href="/article-categories/ferc">FERC</a></li><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-2"><a href="/article-categories/states">The States</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-field-members-only field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Viewable to All?:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-article-featured field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Is Featured?:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-department field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix"><h3 class="field-label">Department: </h3><ul class="links"><li class="taxonomy-term-reference-0"><a href="/department/frontlines">Frontlines</a></li></ul></div><div class="field field-name-field-image-picture field-type-image field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Image Picture:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.fortnightly.com/sites/default/files/1312-FR.jpg" width="799" height="557" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-fortnightly-40 field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Is Fortnightly 40?:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-law-lawyers field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Is Law &amp; Lawyers:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
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<a href="/tags/innovation">Innovation</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/gas">GAS</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/epa">EPA</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/cybersecurity">cybersecurity</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/renewable">Renewable</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/distributed">distributed</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/resource-planning">Resource planning</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/ratemaking">Ratemaking</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/federal-energy-regulatory-commission">Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/ferc">FERC</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/just-and-reasonable">just and reasonable</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/pjm">PJM</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/iso">ISO</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/new-england">New England</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/new-york">New York</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/rto">RTO</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/wholesale">Wholesale</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/surcharge">surcharge</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/generation">generation</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/delivery">delivery</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/service">service</a><span class="pur_comma">, </span><a href="/tags/infrastructure">Infrastructure</a> </div>
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Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:24:02 +0000meacott16921 at http://www.fortnightly.com